The LIFE SILENT project's approach to sustainable noise mitigation

Abstract

The main objective of the LIFE SILENT PROJECT is the development of sustainable and eco-friendly solutions to mitigate noise in complex urban environments, where multiple and diverse noise sources, mainly roads and railways, coexist across densely populated areas. Mitigating noise in such environments generally excludes the use of solutions that might interfere with the urban context, such as noise barriers. This is mainly due to the proximity of receivers to the noise source, which reduces the visibility of the surroundings and air circulation, leading to microclimatic modifications and social opposition. This is why noise mitigation measures acting directly on the source are recommended, such as low-noise pavements for roads, and dampers, rail grinding, and silent brakes for railways. However, these solutions suffer from either durability issues or high implementation costs. Thus, an improvement is necessary. In the LIFE SILENT project, innovative and sustainable low-noise and long-lasting pavements, as well as low-height noise barriers will be developed and demonstrated in a real test environment. Additionally, procedures will be established to facilitate their synergistic implementation, providing transport infrastructure owners and managers with solid information to support their widespread adoption. In this paper, a general overview of the LIFE SILENT project is given.